'X-Men: Apocalypse' Casts Its Nightcrawler With Announcement Of Kodi Smit-McPhee

Kodi Smit-McPhee will play Nightcrawler in "X-Men: Apocalypse." Photo: Reuters

The cast of the upcoming “X-Men: Apocalypse” is already expanding as director Bryan Singer has confirmed that he’ll be bringing Nightcrawler back to the franchise by way of Kodi Smit-McPhee. The actor will officially be joining Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult and Michael Fassbender in the 2016 film.

“Excited to welcome @kodismitmcphee to the cast of #XmenApocalypse as young #Nightcrawler,” he wrote on Feb. 17.

According to Variety, McPhee’s previous credits include “The Road” and voicing the lead in the animated film “ParaNorman.” More recently, he’s starred in “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.” The 18-year-old actor was on many people’s shortlists to play a very different Marvel comics character - Spider-Man in the studio’s upcoming reboot. However, he wasn't everyone's top pick.

Nichtcrawler is a beloved character in the X-Men universe. Like Mystique (Lawrence), his powers curse him with blue skin. He has a tail, adhesive hands and feet as well as the ability to teleport (as long as he can see where it is he’s going). The character first made his way to the big screen when Alan Cumming played him in the 2003 film “X-Men 2,” hailed by fans as one of the best installments in the franchise. That film told the story of how the X-Men met the blue mutant for the first time. Now that the entire canon, established in previous films, was revealed in last summer’s “Days of Future Past,” it appears that the team will rediscover Nightcrawler at an earlier date.

“X-Men: Apocalypse” takes place in the 1980s with the younger cast of characters established in “X-Men: First Class,” giving Nightcrawler an easy back door with which to enter the new (old?) generation of mutant heroes.

McPhee’s casting is not the only tease to come out of Singer’s Instagram account. The director has been posing numerous photos from production including props, set designs and, most recently, concept art.

“X-Men: Apocalypse” is currently scheduled for release on May 27, 2016.